Dear Nissan,
I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta Canada and I’ve been a car guy for as long as I can remember. I currently own a few cars, one of which is a 2010 Nissan GTR which I purchased brand new from Sunridge Nissan in Calgary.
I had the car service in Calgary twice (just basic service). I've had no problems at all with it. In fact when I took it in for the last service the tech said it was one of the cleanest GTR's he'd ever seen, he said I drive it well.
Recently I was recruited to join a company near in Seattle. This meant I had to leave Canada and buy a place in Washington State, living near Bellevue.
So we sold my wife’s GL320, and a couple of my personal cars. I decided to drive my GTR to Seattle because I love it so much. As Nissan should know, only fans buy these cars. I am an owner evangelist. I drove my GTR through the rocky mountains, I had an amazing time on the drive.
...everything was going great up until I visited your dealership in Bellevue Washington, “Nissan of the Eastside” to get it serviced.
Where do I begin?
I was told by Washington State that I need to get a letter of compliance from Nissan in order to register it in the U.S.. Not a problem, I get it, I had to do the same with another car of ours.
I called “NISSAN OF THE EASTSIDE” in Bellevue, told them I needed a letter of compliance and how do I go about getting it done. The service guy said to bring it in for a service and we’ll get it done. He seemed really friendly on the phone... Fine, I booked an appointment, a week later I arrived (this morning).
Upon arrival the service manager wasn’t quite as nice about it. In fact, he was downright abrasive. The conversation went like this:
Me: Hi guys, I think I needed some sort of emissions test or letter or something to register it? (what do I know, I don’t know this stuff).
Nissan Service Manager: We can’t provide you that... (in a very aggressive tone).
Me: Sorry, what I mean is whatever I needed to register in Washington State, as I requested on the phone, I needed that letter of compliance.
Nissan Service Manager: We don’t know what you need, never been asked this before.. so we can’t really do anything for you...
Then I paused... thought about what he said. Hang on, I paid 100k for this car, which I love, and evangelized since I bought it - and you’re saying you can’t do anything for me?
Nissan Service Manger: We’ll give you a document of no recalls or something like that and maybe they’ll accept it.
Me: Okay I guess that sounds fine, please go ahead and do an oil change and provide me whatever documents you can to get it registered.
At this point another guy went outside, walked around the car, started it up, turned it off, came back inside and started typing things on the computer.
Nissan Service Guy #2: Oh, they probably won’t even let you register it here...
Me: Oh? Why is that?
Nissan Service Guy #2: It looks like it has 4 recalls on it...
Me: okay, can you go through it please?
Nissan: Nope, I don’t even know what they are, I can’t look them up.
Me: Can you call Sunridge Nissan in Calgary and get it looked at?
Nissan: Nope, we won’t even be authorized to do the work. Looks like you’ll have to take it back to Canada and get the work done.
Me: Seriously? Guys I bought this car new, I just moved here, can you at least pick up the phone and call?
Nissan: Nope, sorry. Not much we can do from here. By the way, the oil change will be $220.
Me: Give me back my keys, I’m leaving.
Nissan: Okay.
So I guess if you buy a Nissan GTR this is the service you will come to expect. It's seriously a mixed bag. Most of the dealers I've come across stare at the car like it's from outer space. The good news is Nissan does have "GTR Approved" dealerships.
Unfortunately "NISSAN OF THE EASTSIDE" is certified GTR Approved, so clearly there is no screening to the "level of experience" customers should expect. As a matter of fact no customer, regardless of the car, should be treated like this.
Upon further review it seems as if "NISSAN OF THE EASTSIDE" has a horrible Google rating, under 2 stars.. and these guys are certified to sell and service the GTR? Come on Nissan, you can do better than this. You built one of the best cars in the world, but you don't have the DNA to service it appropriately.
So instead of offering to pick up the phone, to call Nissan on my behalf, to call Calgary -- they just basically brushed me off completely. They blew up a customer relationship before it even began... and to think I was going to buy another GTR Premium Edition for the track. Will I buy it now? Not a chance in hell.
What's even worse is I mentioned to the tech that I normally like to get my books stamped when I get it serviced. I asked him to stamp the books when the oil change is complete, he said "our techs won't go get the books from your car and stamp them, you'll have to bring them in yourself to get them stamped..." --- this alone should have been a red flag that these guys just don't get it...
So what next? I’ll probably ship this car to Canada, get it serviced, and sell it there. I’ll end up losing a great deal of money, but I guess I may learn a hard lesson from this. I’m just trying to figure out what that lesson is.
Nissan you got any ideas?
